(7ha) Investigating Continuous Biochemical Processing Strategies Utilizing Process Systems Engineering Fundamentals

Much of current research is driven toward developing a platform for a sustainable future by determining cost-effective alternatives to manufacturing various products traditionally made from fossil fuels. While many studies have shown the promise of biochemical platforms to yield a variety of products, including alternative fuels, biopolymers, and a variety of specialty chemicals, multiple challenges exist in their process development. Many of these technologies are currently in their infancy and lack the productivity and economic viability to compete with traditional petroleum-based processes. In addition, the use of complex, often growth-associated biochemical reactions result in unit operations that must be monitored and controlled to counteract batch-to-batch variability and maximize productivity. These challenges can be overcome by catalyzing the transition of commercial-scale bioprocesses from traditional batch methods to continuous processing strategies that offer the potential to exploit the cost reduction effects of economies-of-scale. To this point, much of the focus in advancing bioprocessing applicability has been on improvement through biochemical means, resulting in novel recombinant strains with higher conversion and yield, rather than the development of novel processing strategies that could provide further answers to these challenges. However, the fundamentals of process systems engineering, typically employed for the modeling, synthesis and control of traditional chemical processes, can be utilized to develop feasible, cost-effective solutions for the continuous, commercial implementation of bioprocessing methods.

To this end, my research plan is to focus on the implementation of a process systems approach to develop novel processes in key areas of biochemical manufacturing, with applications in a variety of areas including sustainable energy, bio-plastics, targeted cell therapies, and pharmaceuticals. My doctoral work at Texas A&M University, under the guidance of Dr. M. Nazmul Karim, has provided me with extensive experience developing methods for the modeling, process synthesis, and optimal control of novel, continuous processes for the biochemical production of fuels and chemicals. I will look to extend this knowledge to my group to afford students a multi-disciplinary environment capable of providing opportunities to develop both experimental and computational skills in the areas chemical and biochemical engineering. My research will facilitate the bench-to-commercial scale development of new continuous bioprocesses to increase their reliability and economic viability. The application of process synthesis methods to the knowledge of biochemical reaction pathways in a variety of organisms will direct process development to novel cocultures capable of achieving the desired conversion of a selected substrate-product combination. Work in developing integrated systems to simultaneously produce pharmaceuticals and liquid transportation fuels will providing a sustainable platform to reduce dependence on non-renewable liquid fuel sources and increase availability of necessary products in the health care industry. The investigation of intensified production schemes for biological production of pharmaceuticals will utilize the cost-reducing practices of continuous processing and process intensification as well as guard against risks such as contamination and product variability. The interdisciplinary nature of the group will also necessitate strong collaborations that will further enrich this training environment.

Teaching Interests:

I am comfortable teaching all general subjects within the chemical engineering curriculum for both undergraduate and graduate students. However, I would prefer to teach process economics, process design, process control, or numerical analysis courses based on my experience teaching these subjects as a co-instructor under the Graduate Teaching Fellow program at Texas A&M University.

Based on my own academic background and my experience in the Texas A&M chemical engineering department, I would like to design two new courses that can be offered to either the graduate students or advanced undergraduate students: a process synthesis and optimization course and a biochemical processing course.

The first course would cover the various aspects of process synthesis, such as the fundamentals of nonlinear and mixed-integer optimization, the modeling paradigm consistent with the construction of process superstructures, and the use of process integration and intensification strategies to improve upon superstructures. In recent years, process systems engineering has become a special focus in many universities, therefore various topics in this field will be a focus of this course.

The second course would cover the basics of biochemical processing, both upstream and downstream, and serves to teach essential topics to developing alternative sustainable processes. This course would cover the fundamentals of biochemical reactions (kinetic modeling and bioreactor design), bioseparations (chromatography, membrane extraction, liquid-liquid extraction, etc.), and the applications and challenges of designing large scale bio-systems. Specific applications to the areas of alternative fuel, pharmaceuticals and biologics, and cellular therapies would be explored.

Select Publications:

1. Raftery, J.P. and Karim M.N. (2017) Economic viability of consolidated bioprocessing utilizing multiple biomass substrates for commercial-scale cellulosic bioethanol production, Biomass and Bioenergy 103, 35-46.
2. Raftery, J.P. and Karim M.N. (2017) Economic Improvement of Continuous Pharmaceutical Production via the Optimal Control of a Multi-Feed Bioreactor, Biotechnology Progress, doi: 10.1002/btpr.2433
3. Ordoñez, M.C., Raftery, J.P., Jaladi, T., Chen, X., Kao, K., and Karim, M.N. (2016). Modelling of batch kinetics of aerobic carotenoid production using Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Biochemical Engineering Journal 114, 226–236.